7 PR opportunities for any business to use this summer

Want to snag some PR opportunities but not sure how to even come up with them? There are tons of opportunities to take advantage of this spring/summer, that aren’t even related to a specific media outlet or area. Here are some general summer PR ideas that virtually anyone can use for their business in the coming months.

graduations

father’s day

memorial day

first day of summer

picnic season

vacation season

independence day

There will be others depending on your product or industry. For example, May 25 is National Wine Day, and if you own a wine brand, a restaurant or any food-related brand, a business where you sell glasses or mugs, or virtually anything related to eating or drinking, or even motherhood (haven’t you seen all the [sometimes troubling] wine/motherhood connection memes and products?) there is a chance to use that day as an opportunity for PR.

The key is to find or make the connection between your business and the specific opportunity. You may think your business has nothing to do with graduation season but I bet there are at least three possible story angles you can find there. Maybe you sell a product that makes a great gift or home decoration? College grads are often given gifts, and chances are they are moving out of their college housing into a new apartment and could use a decorative item. Even for elementary school graduations– people often give teachers a thank you gift, or friends or family may give the mother of the grad a gift as well. For an idea that’s a little less obvious, if you don’t have a physical product or your product is not something appropriate as a gift, how about doing something for a group of graduates in your area? Throw them a little congrats event, or find a recent grad who you could mentor for the summer, or set up a way to give back to the school itself. All of these things are related to graduation season and would be completely applicable to pitch to local media letting them know what you’re doing. Chances are high that they would be interested in a human interest story like that since it’s so timely around a common theme that is prevalent in the community and affects so many people at that time.

You can do the same thing for Father’s Day. Your product may not be geared toward fathers, or men at all. But there are ways to make a connection. Maybe someone who works for your business is a new dad, or there is a sweet story about your relationship with your own father that you think of during this time of year, or you want to find a way to help your customers celebrate dads. All of these are things that you can craft a story around. Pitch the local media about the idea, with all the pertinent details, based on the idea of a local business doing a tribute to dad, and you may be able to get a story.

I think you get the idea of how you can apply the same exact thought process to any of the above ideas, plus way more. Now go through the list and try to come up with at least 2 or 3 angles you could use for your business with each opportunity. Determine which ones you like best (you don’t need to end up trying for each opportunity, 7 pitches would be a lot for a small business, especially when you’re just getting started with PR!) and commit to actually pitching at least 2 or 3 of them this summer! *pst– you just essentially started putting together a PR plan by the way!* Remember, your first couple of pitches may not get picked up, and it does often take multiple pitches to get one story placement, so don’t get discouraged. But at least you’ll be well on your way to getting some PR coverage, and you’ll know you didn’t miss any possible opportunities this summer.